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Horizon
The best new tech heading your way Edited by Claire Davies
Samsung HMD Odyssey $499 (£381), microsoft.com Do you fancy exploring Machu Picchu tonight? Or shall we transform your living room into a battleground to fend off a robot invasion? You can do both with the HMD Odyssey, a headmounted display running Windows 10 through an exciting virtual environment… Samsung’s new Mixed Reality headset is designed to blend the real world with the expanding digital plains, building upon the advances of Microsoft HoloLens. The newly launched HMD Odyssey joins a growing family of Windows MR headsets including the Dell Visor. One of the main draws is that Samsung’s headset offers movement tracking without the need for external sensors. Instead, built-in cameras and sensors track the matching motion controllers. The HMD Odyssey is the most expensive Windows MR headset, but it offers large dual AMOLED displays at 3.5 inches, and a high resolution of 1440x1600. At 110 degrees, the field of view is also wider than competitors, fixing a criticism of the HoloLens. Couple that with built-in AKG headphones for 360-degree sound and the HMD Odyssey quickly shapes up to be an intriguing prospect for digital explorers. Before you rush to order, Samsung has yet to reveal plans to bring the HMD Odyssey to the UK. So for now, UK customers will need to import it.
tech-o-Meter
Unsure whether your PC will work with the HMD Odyssey or other Windows MR headsets? Download the Windows Mixed Reality PC Check app from the Windows Store
This could be the slick tech that gives mixed reality its breakthrough Matt Bolton, Editor
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Top 10
Talking back The HMD Odyssey is the only mixed reality headset to boast an integrated mic array for conversation during online games. Because it’s built directly into the headset, you can jabber and listen with greater clarity
Land of make-believe Formerly known as Windows Holographic, Windows Mixed Reality is a Microsoft platform that supports apps in which real-world elements mix seamlessly with virtual elements (holograms) to create an exciting, interactive shared world
Locked and loaded The HMD Odyssey uses insideout tracking with six degrees of freedom (6DOF) motion-control accuracy. The comfort-fit headset also adjusts to your facial contours during gameplay, with a wheel on hand for aligning the display according to your pupil distance
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Horizon Auto
cuppa joe, on the go Kooyi Vacuum Insulated Travel Coffee Mug A car-friendly, 100-per cent waterproof rating is great, but this mug’s double- walled vacuum insulation is the winner that means you get 12 hours of hot or cold fluids. The button lid for spill-free, anti-hot sipping is just a bonus. £9.99, kooyi.com
Contigo West Loop Monaco Travel Mug Both leak- and spill-proof, this Thermalock vacuuminsulated stainless steel drinks holder is made for one-handed drinking, using a push button – ideal when behind the wheel. With five hours of hot and 12 hours cold drinks, it’ll work well for most drives. £30, kambukka.com/en
Camelbak Forge Vacuum Insulated Travel Mug This ticks all the boxes with six hours of hot drinks on offer, thanks to a doublewalled vacuum insulation, leak-proof cap, impactresistant top and a design that fits nearly all cup holders. The one-handed drinking cap even ‘auto pops’ shut to prevent spills. £34.99, camelbak.com/en 3 0 T3 D EC E M B ER 2 017
cold start
How to winter-proof your car Winter driving is around the icy corner. Auto and tech lifestyle journalist Luke Edwards reveals how to stay snow-season safe Your trusty motor is built for the cold, be it two- or four-wheel drive, but that doesn’t mean it won’t need help to handle the elemental onslaught ahead. A few simple tricks will leave you safer on the roads this winter. Top of the list: run your usual checks for the right tyre pressure, oil levels and make sure the water has enough anti-freeze for the cold. A phone car charger is another must in case you need to call for help. With the boring bits out of the way, you might want to ask Santa for a heads-up display, such as Navdy (£384, navdy.com) or the Garmin HUD (£99, garmin.com) – reading car and traffic info on the windscreen means less looking away from that icy road while you’re driving. Another option to stay hands-free safe is Garmin’s new Speak ($149. garmin.com), which brings Alexa voice control to your car, though no word on UK availability yet.
For extra traction on slick winter roads, think about switching in some winter tyres, such as the Continental WinterContact TS 860 or Dunlop Winter Sport 5. Oh, and get new winter wipers. They’re about to get a great British weather workout after all.
Horizon Fitness & Outdoors
Best pocket multi-tools
Leatherman Wave The Wave’s 17 built-in tools include pliers, a saw, scissors, wire stripper and cutters, screwdriver, can and bottle opener, and a diamondcoated file. Backed with a whopping 25-year warranty, it’s the most sophisticated multi-tool you can buy. £149.95, leatherman.co.uk
Victorinox Spartan PS The Spartan PS offers many of the tools you’ll find on the Leatherman Wave - blades, can and bottle opener, screwdrivers, corkscrew, wire stripper - but only weighs 60g. You’ll barely notice it in your pocket, making it perfect for travel. £70, victorinox.com/uk/en
KEEPING FIT
Lean machine Looking to transform your body? Journalist and GB ultra-runner Damian Hall chooses three high-tech workout machines to help smash your fitness goals
Gerber Dime Travel Edition To get a blade (designed to score plastic packaging), pliers, wire cutters, tweezers, screwdrivers and springloaded scissors all for this weight (62g) and price is super-impressive. Plus it’s stainless steel and backed with a 25-year warranty. £30.99, gerbergear.co.uk 3 6 T3 D ec e m b er 2 017
When it comes to buying the right smart home-fitness machine, in addition to price and features, always consider the size of the machine – will it fit in your house? Weight is important too if you want to shift it about. Next, think about what you want to do on it. Building strength? Get superhero strong via resistance training on the Skillmill Connect (£9,680, technogym.com). This non-motorised device enables simulated sled-pushing through to running, helping you improve power, speed and agility. Stripping excess fat? Try the NordicTrack X9i Incline Trainer with iFit (£2,999, nordictrack.co.uk). With an impressive -6
to 40 per cent incline range you could burn up to five times the calories of a standard treadmill workout. iFit tech tracks progress and replicates outdoor running routes (via Google Maps), while heart-rate sensors help you stay in the fat-burning zone. For boosting your cardio exercise, look at Concept2’s Model D Indoor Rower (£860, concept2.co.uk). It features a Performance Monitor 5, enabling you to track workout data such as speed, distance and calories burned. Preset workouts can be accessed via the backlit display, with ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity for pairing with compatible HR monitors.
Horizon
GADGET GURU
T3’s gadget gardener tends to your growing questions
Gareth Unwin, Ipswich
I have a massive lawn. Save me some mowing time, Guru GaGu is not one to compete with his loyal readers, but the immaculate green plateau of Guru Acres is no doubt better tended than yours and, of course, far larger. That’s just a fact. Guru’s combined tactics of bribery and coercion mean that his children are often out pushing the mower, but on certain Sundays GaGu hops upon his immensely fun Toro ZS500 Timecutter (£4,199). It does not, you’ll be disappointed to learn, slice time itself – the subtitle refers to a quick mow – but it does cut hard with a 726cc V-Twin engine, spraying mulched grass as you hoon around
ILLUSTRATIONs: stephen kelly
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your estate at 7mph doing zerodegree pivot turns. There’s even a hosepipe port for cleaning it out when you’re done. A more realistic option for the average wallet is the Mountfield 827M Compact Lawn Rider (around £1,300) which is also no slouch, offering six cutting lengths, five
ABOVE Watch Robo lawnmowers take over the garden (and the world)
the toro zs500 timecutter doesn’t slice time, but it does cut hard, spraying mulched grass as you hoon around your estate at 7mph
gears and a compact blade width for tight grassy passages. If your lawn isn’t as huge as you say, opt for a robot. Automowers aren’t cheap – the low-end Robomow will run you £499, and you’ll want something a bit more than that. Limited battery power means they could take a few recharges before they’ll cover the lot, and folks who let their dogs use the gargen as a toilet should exercise caution. For big power, coverage of up to half an acre on a charge, and a nice colour scheme, John Deere’s Tango E5 (£2,150) is worth a shot, as is T3’s top pick, Robomow RS635 (from £2,199).
send your questions to: inbox@t3.com or facebook.com/T3mag 3 8 T3 d ec e m b er 2 017
The best tech for Christmas
the best tech for
Christmas Whatever you and yours are into, and whatever your budget, you’ll find the perfect present in our hand-picked gift guide Words: Claire Davies, Nick Odantzis Photography: Neil Godwin
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The best tech for Christmas
high-tech play Have some festive fun with these brilliant techy toys and gaming gadgets
Hasbro Dropmix
LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox
Typically, someone messing with your playlist at a party is cause for a tantrum, but the Dropmix boardgame encourages musical mischievousness. Players place down their music-mixing cards – each one carries a lead, loop, beat or bass line from a well-known song – in an attempt to score more than the other players by creating unique musical mash-ups. Basically, it turns absolutely anyone into a genius DJ, and it’s insanely fun for parties. £120, dropmix.hasbro.com
Budding MIT wannabees can begin their robot building right here, with LEGO’s latest creation. The Boost Creative Toolbox comes with everything you need to build five different robots, including the Short Circuit-like Vernie the Robot, or the Guitar 4000: a shredder with Jimi Hendrix-spec riffing skills. Download the app, choose a robot and it’ll tell you how to build your brick masterpiece. £150, lego.com
Sony PlayStation VR
Shot Scope V2 Golf Watch
Whether you already own a PS4 or just want to get your foot in the virtual reality gaming door, the PlayStation VR is a serious bit of kit. A 5.7-inch OLED screen running at 120 frames per second, immersive 3D audio and an integrated mic are all contained within its ergonomically-designed headset. To complete the experience, bag yourself a pair of PlayStation Move controllers for virtual hands in-game. £350, playstation.com
Shot Scope calls its V2 the ultimate golf watch, and with good reason - this GPS activity tracker can help you ace your game. It automatically detects your shots and accurately plots them against any golf course around the world, displaying peformance stats such as speed, distance, number of holes and even which club you used (using the included tags), so you can pore over all your stats after each game. £225, shotscope.com
Littlebits Droid Inventor Kit Build, customise and take control of your very own R2-D2 droid with this cool kit that teaches the basics of building electronics. Follow the instruction to put the included circuits together so you can move your unit around like a Jedi boss with the power of your palm, or record secret messages for Obi-Wan Kenobi. You can even create your own non-canon droid, Blue Peter-style, using everyday items. Better stock up on those Fairy Liquid bottles. £100, littlebits.cc
Turtle Beach Stealth 700
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Xbox fans: Turtle Beach has you covered with its latest headset, one of the first to use Microsoft’s new Xbox Wireless tech, allowing you to connect directly to your Xbox One console. Just as impressive is the sound these babies make. Windows Sonic for Headphones and Superhuman Hearing gives you razor-sharp surround in game, while noise cancelling prevents any outside interference. You can even adjust your EQ on the fly using the mobile app. £130, turtlebeach.com
High-tech play
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1 Anki Cozmo
The modern-day Tamigotchi, Cozmo likes to play. Keep him sweet with regular tune-ups, food (virtual, of course) and by challenging him to games. He’ll recognise you, offer a fist bump and can be programmed to perform all sorts of cool tricks. £200, anki.com
2 Nikko Air Race Vision 220 FPV Pro
Tired of toy-like drones? Go pro without the cost, thanks to this kit from Nikko Air, which allows you to fly up to 25mph, perform a multitude of stunts and do it all right from the cockpit with the included FPV headset. £220, nikkoair.com
3 Nintendo Switch Super Mario Odyssey bundle
This limited-edition bundle nets you the console that you can play anywhere, adds exclusive smart red Joy-Con controllers, plus a copy of Super Mario Odyssey, which is just mind-blowing fun. Perfect Christmas day escapism. From £330, nintendo.co.uk
4 Sphero R2-Q5
Not sure if you’ve heard, but a new Star Wars film is coming out. This app-controlled Imperial bot from Sphero will recognise its dark master, move according to their input and even interact with other Sphero bots. An R2-D2 version is also available. £200, johnlewis.com D EC E M B ER 2 017 T3 49
Home
the set-up Each issue, we show you how to set up a key piece of connected-home tech. This month… Blueair Sense+
A breath of fresh air With the optional Blueair Aware, you can monitor your home’s air quality within the Blueair Friend app. It’ll detect a variety of harmful airborne particles, including PM 2.5, Volatile Organic Compounds, carbon dioxide, as well as humidity and temperature. You can also check out the quality of the air outside of your home by selecting an outdoor air quality monitor near to you, which displays an overall air quality index
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The set-up
Keep your home’s air cleaner and live healthier than ever Blueair’s smart purifier will keep your house free of harmful pollutants Air purifiers have been around for a while, but never before have they been particularly smart. With the Blueair Sense+ that’s all set to change, thanks to its ability to connect to your smartphone and options to automate getting home’s air that much cleaner. The Sense+ removes contaminants in the air using a combination of two filters – one a particle filter, and the other an activated carbon filter. It’s designed for rooms up to 186 square feet in size and will happily deal with smoke, dust and pollen. And it’ll do it quietly, too: HEPASilent tech utilises electrostatic and mechanical filtration, so less heavy-duty filters are required, meaning less effort is needed to push the dirty air through and the clean air out. You can easily control the Sense+ using the motion-activated panel on the top of the device, for instant fan speed changes – just wave your hand over it like a Jedi. But things get even better once you connect the Sense+ to your Wi-Fi network. By doing this you can control it from your phone, no matter where you are, whether it’s adjusting fan speed or setting up a nighttime schedule so that it doesn’t bother you while you sleep. Most interesting of all, though, is that you can hook it up to a Blueair Aware. This optional air quality monitor makes the Sense+ an even more intriguing proposition. As well as giving you an insight into your home’s air quality, when paired with the Sense+ it’ll automatically purify the air only when it detects pollutants, so you won’t need to manually control it; the smarts will take care of business for you. This isn’t just to save you time, either. With replacement filters at £55 a pop – they need to be replaced every six months – you can save yourself a bunch of money by doing this. You can even control the Sense+ using just your voice, by adding the Blueair Sense+ Skill to the Amazon Alexa app. Although you can only connect Blueair’s own air quality monitor within Blueair’s app – cheeky, if you ask us – IFTTT (ifttt.com) enables other monitors, such as the Foobot, to trigger the Sense+ too. The Blueair Sense+ costs £459, while the Blueair Aware will set you back £209. Check out more details at blueair.com
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Home
home Test
Wireless security cameras Upgrade your smart home security without pesky wires; T3 picks the best totally wireless ways to keep an eye on your pad long battery life
high-quality video
BEST FOR video quality
blink XT
swann smart security camera
£149.99, blinkforhome.co.uk
£170, swann.com
Ostensibly similar to the original Blink cam, the new Blink XT adds weatherproofing and an upgraded 1080p sensor. You still get the same killer two-year battery life from the dual AAs and no video storage fees. You also get the same wall mount, which is rudimentary but works well. Video performance is better than the original, and good overall, but the viewing angle slightly narrower than we’d like. That said, at night the picture is very bright. There’s no geolocation goodness here; instead you have to remember to manually arm and disarm it each time to avoid motion notifications when you’re home. This lack of smarts is mitigated by Alexa integration, so you can control your cameras using your voice, or if you have a Nest thermostat, you can hook it up to IFTTT and automate it using the Home and Away function.
Swann’s smart cam has Wi-Fi on board, so it’s a simple, hub-free affair. You get IP65 rating, so it’ll happily go outdoors, and a magnetic ball mount makes it easy to mount and position. Generously, video is stored locally for seven days and in the cloud for two days, with the option to expand this to 30 days with a subscription. The 1080p video feed is superb – wide, crisp and with excellent contrast. Similarly, night-time viewing is perfectly clear. Using True Detect heat-sensing tech, it only captures video when it senses a human-sized object, and it ignores pets and irrelevant movements outside. It isn’t very smart, though, so you’ll get umpteen motion notifications when you’re at home, and there’s no way of disarming the camera manually. After just a few days, battery was down to 60 per cent – unsurprising given the notification spam.
Verdict T3 SAYS The XT is a fit-and-forget camera, with its two-year battery life, and it performs nicely too, though the lack of geolocation makes it a bit more work to use.
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Verdict T3 SAYS The lack of geolocation smarts and the inability to arm or disarm it manually are downers on what is otherwise an impressive security cam.
Wireless security cameras
How to get the most from your wireless security camera in the night
charging it
extend your range
All the cameras here boast night vision, but be careful where you’re placing them - if there’s an object close to the camera’s lens, it’ll light that object and the surrounding area will be very dark, rendering night time recording useless.
If you’re planning to mount your camera outside, you’ll want to place it somewhere out of reach, but don’t go crazy and put it somewhere like the roof – you don’t want to have to whip out the scaffolding every time it needs charging.
Totally wire-free cameras make it tempting to place them anywhere around the home, in or out, but if your Wi-Fi signal is patchy, it’s worth considering a wireless upgrade. Check out the roundup of mesh Wi-Fi systems on p126.
motion-detection smarts
all the features
BEST FOR features
canary flex
netgear arlo pro
£179, canary.is/uk
From £299 (one camera), arlo.com/uk
Canary’s weatherproof cam is a funky affair, with a 360-degree magnetic mount that can be stood up indoors, or placed flat on a wall for easy outdoor mounting. It’s a neat solution, and with Wi-Fi on board there’s no hub to place. The 1080p video feed is clear and crisp, though vision at night is poor (Canary recommends an external light to improve this). Geolocation means it only records when you’re away, and it features a clever Night Mode which arms the camera when you’re in bed. There’s Google Home/Assistant support too – handy for quickly checking the battery life, for example, using your voice. There’s also two-way chat, but it only works if you have a subscription – stingy, if you ask us; as is the 24-hour video storage for basic members. Battery life dropped to 75 per cent after three days – decent, but not as good as the Arlo Pro.
The Arlo Pro is a big investment; best for those building an entire-home system. The necessary hub is chunky, but it does have a super-loud siren built in. Each cam has a removable battery, so you can buy additional units and swap them when they run out. Not that you’ll do so often – after several days the Arlo Pro had 96 per cent battery remaining, so several months longevity is feasible. The video feed is decent day or night, albeit only 720p, and apparently the widest here (we couldn’t tell much of a difference), while geolocation means you won’t get unnecessary notifications (and it ignores pets). Custom mode lets you create triggers – our choice is the alarm sounding upon intruder detection. There’s two-way audio, manual clip recording, and a seriously good seven days of cloud storage. A simple magnetic ball mount makes it easy to place.
Verdict T3 SAYS A nice camera, with loads of smarts, but hampered by poor night vision and having to pay to unlock some of the features.
Verdict T3 SAYS A very competent, if very pricey, system with lots of options to peruse. Battery life is also excellent, aided by the hot-swappable batteries.
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State of the Art
Dream screen Upgrade your home entertainment with these 4K TVs under £700 Words: Steve May Photography: Neil Godwin
perfect for
Christmas
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What’s on test…
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Cello 55 Platinum P55ANSMT-4K This big-screen 4K offering from UK TV maker Cello comes with a whopping soundbar and uses an Android smart interface. It doesn’t support HDR, sadly. £680, celloelectronics.com
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Hisense H50N6800 It’s not just value which marks out this HDR-capable hotshot – it has a funky customisable user interface unique to Hisense, and Freeview Play too built-in too. Hisense calls the screen tech ‘ULED’. £569, hisense.co.uk
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Toshiba 49U7763DB The TV marque returns to the UK with a slick-looking UHD debutante with Freeview Play and more colours than a pack of Skittles. There’s no HDR support, but it should be vibrant anyway. £649, toshiba-tv.com
4K TVs under £700
aming is going 4K. Programme makers are embracing extra pixels. Blu-ray has evolved. If you haven’t yet upgraded your fusty Full HD (or, heaven forfend, HD Ready) flatscreen to a UHD model, you’re running out of excuses. With virtually every TV manufacturer now touting eight-millionpixel tellies, there’s no shortage of choice, but if you’re on a tight budget, what’s the sharpest way to spend your paycheck? All 4K TVs offer four times the pixel density of HD
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models, which is obviously a good thing. But they can differ hugely in specification. Would-be shoppers should remember that there’s an inescapable relationship between resolution and viewing distance. Put simply, to benefit from the extra detail any 4K TV offers you’ll need to either buy a bigger screen than the HD model you currently watch, or move your sofa nearer. For this audition we’ve corralled three sub-£700 4K models, all of which have a slightly different selling point. New-to-the-scene (ish) British TV brand
Cello goes big with a 55-inch offering from its Platinum range, and it comes with an integrated soundbar. It offers a lot of bang for your buck, but there are caveats. Toshiba’s 49-inch U7763DB taps into a growing demand for bijou UHD displays, and combines a svelte design with a wide colour gamut panel. But is small really beautiful? Finally, Hisense ups the ante by adding HDR to the equation with this astonishingly cheap 6 Series mid-range. With a growing hubbub about HDR, is this where your 4K focus should be?
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State of the Art test 01:
DESIGN and build
Cello 55 Platinum P55ANSMT-4K
Looks, stands and ports are all a big part of buying a new TV ello may not be a familiar name, but the British manufacturer has been churning out low-cost TVs from its County Durham base for years. With the Platinum 4K range, the brand has clearly stepped up a gear. The P55ANSMT may not be the thinnest flatscreen you’ll find, but build quality is solid. The silvery bezel is neatly finished, while the integrated soundbar makes a striking design feature of its forward-facing driver array. Rear-side connections comprise a trio of 4K-capable HDMIs, all with HDCP 2.2, three USBs, plus stereo phono output and composite AV. Unusually, there’s also a microSD card reader. The tuner is Freeview HD. By comparison, the Hisense H55N6800 is the slimmest set in our group. The thin bezel on this 50mm model is finished in a gunmetal grey, while the bolt-on feet have metallic weight. The look is minimal, but not nearly as cheap as that price tag implies. Rear-side connections are generous. There are four HDMI inputs, two of which are HDCP 2.2compliant, and three USBs (one of which is a
C
With the Platinum 4K range, the Cello brand has clearly stepped up a gear fast 3.0 variant for timeshifting programmes onto a USB hard drive). There’s also composite and component AV inputs. The set has both a Freeview tuner and satellite option. Toshiba’s 49-incher is 55mm slim, but feels rather more substantial than the Hisense. The black bezel is miniscule, the chromed stand flat and heavy. A forward-facing speaker array is disguised by a slim fabric strip, not obvious until you spot it. The company logo is similarly difficult to distinguish on the metallic trim that hovers over the stand. Less subtle is the green LED power light, which is overly bright. The set also features a Freeview digital tuner, plus a generic satellite alternative. Rear connections comprise four HDMI inputs, which are all 2.0- and HDCP 2.2-compatible, three USBs (one of which is a fast 3.0 port), composite and component inputs, VGA and even a SCART. 8 8 T3 D ec e m b er 2 017
BEST FOR DESIGN
Specs Screen size: 55 inches Display: LED LCD Inputs: 3x HDMI, 3x USB, composite AV, Ethernet Dimensions: 1250x88x797mm Weight: 16.25kg
TEST 01: WInner
cELLO P55ANSMT-4K Both Hisense and Toshiba warrant admiring glances for their minimalism, but the Cello’s integrated soundbar and synchronous finish give it a tech-tastic design edge
4K TVs under £700
Hisense H50N6800
Toshiba 49U7763DB
Specs
Specs
Screen size: 50 inches Display: Edge-lit LED LCD Inputs: 4x HDMI, 3x USB, 1x component, composite AV, Ethernet Dimensions: 1119x58x647mm Weight: 16.8kg
Screen size: 49 inches Display: Edge-lit LED LCD Inputs: 4x HDMI, 3x USB, 1x component, 1x VGA, 1x Scart, Ethernet Dimensions: 1099x660x55mm Weight: 18kg
WHAT ABOUT THE SOUND? There’s more to watching TV than just image quality
With its integrated soundbar, the Cello 55 Platinum P55ANSMT-4K outperforms its rivals in this test. There’s not a massive amount of power on tap (just 16W in total) but that forward-facing speaker array has guts and clarity on its side. The Hisense H50N6800makes a noise, albeit not one you’ll particularly want to listen too for long. Despite a 2x 10w
output and dbx-TV processing, its audio performance is unfortunately a little too much on the shrill side. Toshiba’s sound system is surprisingly potent despite the 49U7763DB’s slim cabinet on show. In addition to the front-facing tweeters, this set has two rear-facing squawkers, which help add a welcome roundness to the sound.
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Making magic
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Behind the scenes at Disneyland
Making magic
For 25 years, Disneyland Paris has been using technology to create amazing experiences. T3 speaks to the ride creators to find out what goes into building a new kind of fun Words: Matt Bolton Photography: Disney
he maxim about any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic never holds more true than at Disneyland. Disneyland Paris has been combining technology and theatre since 1992 to create amazing experiences for kids (and adults who like a bit of staged spectacle in their lives). Recently, some of the original attractions have been through a “rehabbing”, where new technology and old meet. As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations in 2017, Disneyland Paris invited T3 to tour the upgraded rides and the most recent all-new ride, and speak to the Imagineers about what goes into building and developing them. Our guides are Björn Heerwagen and Laurent Cayuela. Cayuela is a Show Writer, part of the team that works on concepts for attractions, shows and entertainment. One of his key areas is “show awareness” training, which means helping to show off the stories at the heart of Disneyland’s attractions. He’s exactly as bubbly and effusive as
T
you’d expect from someone whose job is to build excitement. Heerwagen is Senior Show Design & Production Manager, and comes across as much more pragmatic and serious-minded, but with a sharp sense of humour that he lets slip every so often. He manages almost everything that goes into building a ride, to the point that he oversees over 40 different trades. It’s quickly clear why they’re here as a double act – when it comes to making something in Disneyland, storytelling and building are completely intertwined. First they create the story, then find or create the technology needed to bring it to life. Heerwagen explains that he also works in a “tag team” with the Art Director, Beth Clapperton, travelling to trade shows and investigating ways to realise rides together. Rehabbing older attractions is an especially delicate process, because there’s also the history of the rides to protect. When modernising a ride, the results still have to feel the same to guests who’ve been before, even if a lot has changed. Two of the
attractions that have had makeovers are Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Tours. Both were part of the park’s opening line-up, based on versions in the Californian Disneyland, and each has a heady heritage, too: Star Tours was a collaboration with George Lucas, while Pirates of the Caribbean was the last ride Walt Disney worked on. But with Pirates now a movie franchise, and many more films in the Star Wars universe, the old versions didn’t cut it any more. As Cayuela explains, “Now, when kids come to the park, they see Pirates of the Caribbean and they expect the characters from the movies.” And leaving kids disappointed is not exactly in Disneyland’s playbook. So in 2017, Pirates was rehabbed to make changes in everything from the lighting to the characters and the story that threads through it… but not too many changes. “It’s important that guests can’t tell the different between what’s old and new,” explains Heerwagen. He says they have to “meet the original intent” when rehabbing, which can
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Review
Price £449 Processor AMD 8-core, 2.3GHz Graphics AMD 1.172GHz, 6TFLOPS Memory 12GB GDDR5 Storage 1TB hard drive Connectivity HDMI out, HDMI in, 3x USB 3.0, IR, SPDIF audio, Ethernet, Wi-Fi ac Dimensions 300x240x60mm Weight 3.8kg
Terror bites The 1TB drive is actually smaller than you can get in a One S model, yet 4K games can hit nearly 100GB. 2TB would have been ideal at this price.
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Xbox One X
perfect for
Dashboard update The new Xbox One dashboard interface is a big improvement – more intuitive, faster to navigate, more customisable… it’s just a better experience.
Christmas
Playing with power
Xbox One X THE DESIGN AWARD
It’s the most powerful console ever made, with amazing tech across the board, but is it potent enough to make you open your wallet? £449 xbox.com/en-GB
hen the the PS4 Pro launched 12 months ago, it marked a new kind of console – an update to the previous generation, more like a PC upgrade than the old console leaps. Now it’s Microsoft’s turn, and it’s gone all-out. Loaded with 50 per cent more graphics power than the PS4 Pro, as well as 4K output, HDR, Dolby Atmos and a full-blown Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the Xbox One X is not only the most powerful video game console ever made, but also an incredibly well-specced multi-media entertainment hub, which even outstrips the PS4 Pro in versatility. However, as with Sony’s system, Microsoft doesn’t have a particularly wide selection of games on offer at launch that really tap into the Xbox One X’s power. There are select titles that properly make use of it, such as
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Forza Motorsport 7, but right now the X is very much a specialist in enhancing existing games with extra bells and whistles. And don’t get us wrong, those enhancements are most welcome – we love this new wave of iterative enhancements to systems and games – but there’s a divorce between hardware quality and experience we need to acknowledge. Unboxing the Xbox One X reveals a system that, weirdly, is reminiscent in terms of shape and design of Sony’s classic PlayStation 2, with a notable overhang looming over its disc slot, eject and sync buttons, alongside a front-facing USB port. The console carries over the tasteful dimpling pattern we saw first introduced on the Xbox One S on its side panels and is actually amazingly small. In terms of density, the Xbox One X feels incredibly solid and exudes quality. D EC e m b er 2 017 T3 10 3
Man vs Tech
g n i s i a R ar e h t b h op
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le of b a p a c really push of h c e t g brewin ing pint at the d out e m o to fin -beat atest h Is the l ng a brewery to the garage i ns produc on? T3 heads Sessio : Joby y h t p a t r hotog a bu S aga : Julia Words
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The Mission Can we produce better, faster and cheaper craft beer using the best new homebrew gadgets, or through time-honoured traditional methods? Andy’s the brewer behind Bristol’s best-kept homebrew secret: The Urban Grinch, an English brown ale. Julia just likes beer. 10 8 T3 d ec e m b er 2 017
Raising the bar
man tech
perfect for
Christmas
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Man vs Tech
et’s face it. Brewing a perfectly crafted beer from your own home isn’t as easy as it looks. Nailing the mash. Calculating volumes. Getting your head around grains, hops, yeasts and how they work together. It’s an intimidating science – and that’s before you even get into the business of water profiling or fermentation temperatures. But when you get it right, pouring a pint of delicious homebrew from a keg in your kitchen is unbeatable. So when T3 challenged us to test a machine that promised to craft perfect beer – without the complex equipment, techniques and clean-up – we were quite curious. Could a countertop gadget really create a tastier brew at just the push of a button?
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Art over science To find out, we create two batches of IPA over a weekend: the first using US firm PicoBrew’s $799 precision brewing appliance Pico Pro; the second using time-honoured homebrewing methods. With the Pico Pro, it’s certainly easier. The machine automates the key stages of the brewing process, letting you craft five litres of beer in your kitchen in about two hours, using ready-to-brew $20 PicoPaks – premeasured sachets of grains, hops and yeasts from more than 160 breweries around the world. Want to make your own? You can – well, sort of – by adding custom ingredients to a selection of base recipes through PicoBrew’s Freestyle program. (There’s only one choice of yeast though, and limited hops.) Initial set-up of the Pico Pro is a fiveminute affair, involving little more than removing the packaging, plugging it into a socket, connecting to Wi-Fi and registering online. Despite being labelled a ‘countertop’ machine, it doesn’t actually fit under the cabinets on our kitchen counter, but a swift location change – and a 10-minute pre-rinse later – and we’re ready to go. The good news is that it’s easy to operate. I place the PicoPak into the machine – each one has a RFID chip on top, enabling the Pico Pro to identify it – and add water. We’re making an Imperial IPA, Stingray, from San Diego-based microbrewery Coronado Brewing Company, so I use the control knob to set the alcohol content to 7.9 per cent (crikey) and bitterness to 48 IBU (international bettering unit), and hit start. That’s it. The machine heats 110 T3 d ec e m b er 2 017
the water, runs it through the pack and whips up a batch of wort in just a few hours, letting us watch its progress using the online tracker. PRecision instrument This is truly liberating. We’ve been homebrewing for a few years now, and the biggest challenge is maintaining control over the temperature. Get it wrong and you’re scuppered. You won’t get the predicted conversion of sugars from the grain, which will affect the alcohol content, and the taste. With the Pico Pro, it’s reassuring to know the optimum temperature is being maintained throughout. And
say, it’s a more laborious process. He calculates the volume of ingredients we’ll need for our homebrew IPA recipe, as well as the predicted alcohol content, IBU and gravity. To make the mash, we need to heat the water to 66 degrees. However, we’ll need to hit 74 degrees to compensate for the cold grain we’ll be adding – and maintaining the mash temperature is a notoriously tricky task. Enter ETI’s SuperFast Thermapen 4 digital thermometer. It gets to work quickly, giving a reading in just three seconds, and the handy 360-degree self-rotating display makes it easy to record the data from any angle.
The machine heats the water, runs it through the pack and whips up a batch of wort in just a few hours though it doesn’t tell you which hops are going in at which stage, it does walk you through each step of the brew process with a clarity that would be useful to beginners. The best part? It slashes the physical brewing process from four hours to two, and you don’t have to baby-sit the beer – turn the Pico Pro on and forget about it. We don’t forget about it, though. Because it’s loud. Very loud. This isn’t a machine that’ll let you quietly brew without the rest of the household knowing about it. But it can be left alone, so with an unexpected free Saturday evening ahead, we leave the Pico whirring away and hit the pub. The next morning, the wort has cooled overnight in the Pico Pro’s keg, so I add a yeast packet and leave it to work its magic. Meanwhile, Andy preps the traditional brew. Suffice to
RIGHT The Pico Pro is easy, but you’ll still need to leave it for a couple of weeks to ferment pre-drinking above right The brewing process starts here: just add your prepackaged brew and away you go
An hour and a half later, the mash is done. Andy sparges the grains, commences the boil, and adds the different hops at various stages over the next hour and 15 minutes. (It’s worth noting that he’s been sterilising the kit at every stage after the boil unlike with the Pico, which is a selfsterilising machine.) When Andy’s done, he runs cold water through a 7.6m Copperhead Immersion Wort Chiller to cool the wort to pitching temperature. We’re in the danger zone, here: this is where the wort is most susceptible to bacterial contamination, so we need to bring the temperature down to 20°C as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the Copperhead handles it like a pro, reducing the temperature in a fraction of the time an ice bath would take (and with a lot less mess).
Raising the bar
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the art of the craft create your own home brewery with tech
Pico Pro Whip up a batch of tasty craft beer from one of the world’s finest microbreweries with little more than the touch of a button. The Pico Pro packs cutting-edge tech into a slick machine – and makes a cracking pint, too. $799, picobrew.com
SuperFast Thermapen 4 thermometer
Copperhead Immersion Wort Chiller
With full readings in just three seconds, this is the don of digital thermometers. The display rotates with your hand position, and it turns on a backlight when it’s dark. £64, thermapen.co.uk
This 7.6m chiller conducts heat fast, cleans easily and is a thousand times better than trying to cool down your wort by plunging it into a kitchen sink full of ice. Trust us. £70, beerhawk.co.uk
30L FastFerment Conical Fermenter
Mangrove Jacks Dual Temperature Controller
BrewFerm Wort Aeration
This all-in-one conical fermenter brews a better beer by creating an uplift that keeps the yeast in suspension and reducing the risk of oxidation. £84.96, fastbrewing.com
This digital heating and cooling regulator maintains a consistent fermentation temperature. It’s insanely easy to use. £34.44, the-home-brewshop.co.uk
A swish piece of kit that pumps air through your beer to oxygenate it, without you having to stir with a mixing paddle. Your arms will thank you for it. £29.88, the-home-brewshop.co.uk
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THE DESIGN AWARD
Price From £999 Storage 64GB, 256GB Screen 5.8-inch 2436x1125 OLED Rear cameras 12MP wide-angle, 12MP 2x telephoto; 4K 60fps video recording Front camera 7MP; 1080p video recording Processor Apple A11 Bionic Dimensions 70.9x143.6x7.7mm Weight 174g
Perfect 10
iPhone X The most important phone since the original iPhone? Perhaps. Apple says this paves the way for the next generation of smartphones, and it’s not wrong
From £999 apple.com/uk
he iPhone X is the first of a new breed of iPhones, according to Apple. That’s clear just by looking at it – there’s no Home button, which isn’t just to accommodate the edge-toedge screen. Getting rid of one of the iPhone’s few unchanged controls since its launch ten years ago is a statement. It seems small, but it has a knock-on effect, and when we first started using the X, we wondered if we were ready for an all-gesture control scheme. The first thing that’s quite surprising when you take the phone out of the box is just how small it is, especially coming to it from reviews of the Note 8 and iPhone 8 Plus – both superb handsets, but big. Of course, it’s not the iPhone X display that’s small, but the body of the phone. It feels a lot more like the iPhone 8 than the 8 Plus, but its 5.8-inch display is around the same size as the Plus’. The materials used make the phone feel super-premium, even if the glass rear is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. The new glass-backed design means
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iPhone X
Steel yourself The stainless-steel edges feel luxurious, and match the midpriced Apple Watch. The shine does show scratches, though
centre your Qi Wireless charging is nice to have, but it still requires some precision placement on a mat – Apple hasn’t fixed everything…
that you can set the iPhone X down on a wireless charging pad and it’ll instantly start sucking up juice. It’s the universal ‘Qi’ standard as well, so you won’t need a special Apple wireless charger for this to work. Apple has the power to make technologies mainstream because of its ability to convince partners that ‘now is the time’ to adopt. Integrating the Qi wireless standard at this stage is a phenomenal boost to wireless charging, even if others have been doing it for ages. You can charge the handset up in around two hours normally, but connecting a USB-C to Lightning cable to a USB-C MacBook charger will give you fast charging, up to 50 per cent in about half an hour. You can almost watch the battery percentage tick over as you charge (frustratingly you can no longer see the battery percentage in the status bar on the X – instead, you need to pull down the Control Centre). We love the stainless-steel edge especially. The so-called ‘notch’ at the top of the screen is far from intrusive
and houses plenty of necessary tech for Face ID. However, there is a bit of an issue with some apps not rendering themselves correctly around the notch, while some apps – Safari notably – just use bars to make the screen a more conventional shape. Expect these quirks to get ironed out.
One touch The second thing that’s surprising is the first time you swipe up from the bottom of the display to go to the Home screen in iOS 11. It should feel weird, but we found it didn’t. Other reviewers said it took them days to get used to the lack of Home button, but we really weren’t troubled by it. Okay, we reached for a non-existent Home button a couple of times, but the move to gestures felt really natural. We found ourselves significantly more perturbed by other control changes – swiping down from the top right to get to the Control Centre is fine, but our thumb didn’t quite stretch that far, so we needed two hands, or to jockey the handset slightly into position. Apple’s ‘Plus’
The all-black iPhone looks beautiful, but we’re partial to silver stainless steel finish of the white model – it still has an all-black front
size Reachability feature to enable you to pull down stuff at the top of the screen is no longer on by default, but it is there if you want it. The side button is overused for features now there is no Home button. As well as putting your phone to sleep, it’s now co-opted for Siri (long press) and Apple Pay (two short presses). This works okay, but not brilliantly. To avoid accidental locks, you should switch to using ‘Hey Siri’ to invoke Apple’s assistant with your voice - we suspect that’s Apple’s intention, anyway.
Face time One thing that isn’t complex is Face ID. You set it up during the initial iPhone configuration and then, er, that’s it. 15 minutes after we started to use the phone we realised we’d locked it several times (as we took photographs and generally played around with the side button controls) but we had just swiped up to open the phone each time, without a thought. It suddenly dawns on you that your face has indeed unlocked the phone. D ec e m b er 2 017 T3 119
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4K HDR media streamers
Apple TV 4K From £179, apple.com
£79, amazon.co.uk
Design The fifth-generation box is identical to the previous model - that is, it’s a chunky but discreet slab of matte-black plastic. The remote feels quite polished. It’s comfortable to hold, and the touch pad (with clicker) is accurate and responsive.
Design Completely redesigned and dinkier than the last model, the Fire TV sports a built-in HDMI cable, for an easy install. Unlike the Apple TV 4K, there’s no Ethernet port - it’s Wi-Fi only. The remote isn’t as slick here, and oddly lacks volume control.
Features Compatible with HDR10 and Dolby Vision, though there’s no support for Dolby Atmos. It can be used as a hub for your HomeKit devices and you can access your iCloud content on it, making it great for Apple users. You even get Siri voice control.
Features You get HDR10 compatiblity, but no Dolby Vision, however audio lovers will appreciate the Dolby Atmos support. Alexa is built into the remote, to control your smart home devices with your voice. The Fire TV comes with just 8GB of storage space.
Performance The Apple TV 4K uses the same Apple A10X Fusion chip in the iPad Pro, and everything zips along nicely at 4K 60fps, with only the tiniest irksome lag. It automatically calibrates the display for any output, and offers HD upscaling.
Performance With a speedy processor, 2GB of memory and the latest gen Wi-Fi, the Fire TV is fast, smooth in use, and easily able to handle 4K HDR at 60fps - there’s only a few instances of stuttering. Audio and video settings are automatically optimised.
content The interface is easy to use and Siri is handy for instant voice control, but isn’t always accurate. 4K HDR content is sparse overall, but the iTunes store has movies, and you do get Netflix 4K HDR streaming. Sadly, no Amazon Prime Video.
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Amazon Fire TV 4K
We’re impressed HDR and Dolby Vision support; great remote; ideal in an Apple ecosystem. We’d improve No Dolby Atmos (it’s due, says Apple); relatively pricey; waiting on more 4K material.
content You can stream 4K HDR content from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, though there isn’t loads. Similarly, Atmos stuff is thin on the ground. The interface is a cinch to navigate, aided by Alexa voice control - it’s not always accurate though.
verdicT We’re impressed Dolby Atmos support; nice design; Alexa home control; inexpensive for 4K HDR. We’d improve No Dolby Vision; 4K HDR content isn’t huge; best if you have Amazon Prime.
Find a brilliant 4K HDR TV to go with your 4K HDR box: bit.ly/best4khdrtv
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best of the best The world’s best tech, all in one place Edited by Matthew Bolton
If you’re looking for the very best tech available today, you have definitely come to the right place. Best of the Best is the most useful gadget-buying guide you will ever encounter. To create it, we’ve ruthlessly filtered down to the biggest groups, to bring you rock-solid recommendations for your home life, daily commute and the tech you use all the time. Within each of those groups, we’ve got a dozen categories for key tech buys. We’ve picked one product for every category that we think is the best you can get on balance, taking into account price, quality and features, so it’s easy to know what you need in your life. You should also check out T3.com, where you’ll find even more categories, if you’re looking for something that isn’t here. From big-budget buys to the little (but essential) accessories, we’ve got you covered.
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entertainment
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audio
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LIFESTYLE
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AUTO
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smart home
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living
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COMPUTING
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travel & Outdoors
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Best of the best best of…
Entertainment
However serious you are about your TV, movies and gaming set-ups, we’ve got the perfect buys for a tricked-out living room OLED 4K TV
Value 4K TV Sony A1 Series Incredible 4K HDR is only a tiny part of this awesome package. The panel (55- or 65-inch) and bezel are super-slim, it offers lightning response times, and great sound comes from a screen that’s also a speaker. From £2,800, sony.co.uk
Top-end 4K TV
HiSense N5700 HiSense offers up a massive amount of prime 4K tech for your money, with HDR support, great 4K image quality and builtin soundbar tech. Even the bezel is tiny, and it comes in 43-, 49- or 55-inch sizes. From £399, hisense.co.uk
4K HDR projector Loewe bild 9 Loewe creates art just as much as it does high-end AV equipment, and its towering, sculptural bild 9 TV is as attractive as it is exquisitely powerful, with a hidden soundbar and top picture quality. £8,990, loewe.tv
Value 4K Blu-ray player
Acer V7850 Our favourite home cinema centrepiece offers brilliant colour with Rec. 2020 compatibility, blinding brightness, 4K HDR support and, perhaps most importantly, it’s not so noisy it’ll drown out your film. £2,699, acer.com
Top-end 4K Blu-ray player
Xbox One S Yes, this is primarily a games console, but it’s a damn good UHD Blu-ray player too. Why pay more for something that just plays discs when you could be getting your game on with the money left over? £199, microsoft.com
4K streamer
Panasonic DMP-UB900 Clean lines, great software design and the processing power to create simply the best 4K picture you’ll get from a UHD disc. If you’re building a serious collection, this is the serious player for you. £600, panasonic.com
Universal remote Amazon Fire TV with 4K Ultra HD The new super-small Fire TV 4K offers Ultra HD movies with HDR support, as well as Dolby Atmos 3D audio where supported, for a seriously cinematic experience from a tiny box. £69, amazon.co.uk
TV soundbar
AV receiver Q Acoustics M3 This brilliant soundbar offers balanced drivers, room-filling sound and an integrated subwoofer. Massive audio in a small, attractive bar, ideal for adding cinematic sound, with no messing around. £299, qacoustics.co.uk
Portable games console Nintendo Switch Not the most powerful current-gen console, but with Nintendo’s legendary games line-up and the flexibility to play in stacks of different control configurations, it’s the best portable machine you can buy. £279, nintendo.com 13 0 T3 D ec e m b er 2 017
Logitech Harmony Elite A dual-purpose remote, as at home in your hands as it is sat in the corner of your living room, controlling everything from your TV to your lighting. You can even control it from a phone app! £299, logitech.com
MArantz NR1608 Small enough for any set-up but packing in features, this receiver offers 7.2-channel surround, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X 3D audio, eight 4K 60Hz HDMI ports, Wi-Fi music playback and smart 4K upscaling. £595, marantz.co.uk
4K games console Xbox One X The most powerful console ever is a true technical marvel, capable of astonishing graphics in native 4K and HDR, and Dolby Atmos 3D sound. It even includes highquality 4K Blu-ray playback. £449, xbox.com/en-gb
Best of the best best of…
Audio
From wireless convenience to audiophile heaven, this is the gear you need to make the most of your favourite music Multi-room speakers
Wi-Fi speaker
Denon Heos 7 HS2 Denon’s HEOS system offers rich sound, and its simplicity of set-up, the look of its speaker units, and its general speed and reliability are top tier. You can’t get better wireless speakers. £549, denon.co.uk
Portable Bluetooth speaker
Naim Mu-so Qb A compact box stuffed with individually amplified tweeters, mid-range drivers and a solid woofer, with a 32-bit DSP inside for crystal-clear sound, all from the minds behind Bentley in-car audio. Sublime. £649, naimaudio.com
Wireless over-ear headphones
Cambridge Audio yoyo M These portable speakers are made for wireless stereo sound and come as a pair (though you can use one on its own). They offer punchy audio in an impressively wide sound field, and look great, too. £299, cambridgeaudio.com
Wireless in-ear headphones
Bowers & Wilkins PX These stylish headphones are also technical marvels, boasting adjustable noise cancellation via an app. They pause automatically when you take them off, last ages, and sound absolutely fantastic. £329, bowers-wilkins.co.uk
Premium over-ear headphones
Optoma NuForce BE Sport3 An incredibly light set of Bluetooth earphones that are perfect for sport but absolutely no slouch in the audio department. Class-leading sound, decent battery life and premium looks to boot. £59, optoma.co.uk
Premium in-ear headphones
Oppo PM-3 Miraculous sound from closed-back headphones, tough as nails, comfortable enough for all-day use, and are as at home pulling audio from your phone as they are hooked up to a serious headphone amp. £350, oppo.com
Portable hi-res player
RHA T20i Heavy but comfortable – the around-ear wires make sure of that – these steel ear buds pack in some solid sound, and include interchangeable filters to tweak their output precisely to your liking. £149, rha-audio.com
Astell & Kern Kann A substantial audio device at nearly 300g, but one that does incredible things. It’s a DAC in its own right, it’s an astonishing high-res player, and its massive battery will keep you rocking for days on end. £899, astellnkern.com
Bookshelf speakers
Hi-fi streamer
Wharfedale Diamond 220 These are great value, yet offer up 13cm Kevlar mid/bass drivers, deep-dish tweeters and outstandingly punchy sound. Place them next to a wall for the strongest output from the rear-set bass port. £179 (pair), wharfedale.co.uk
Naim Uniti Atom An immensely stylish streamer with a great screen, that’s compatible with a host of music streaming services. It’ll play anything on your network and via Chromecast, AirPlay and Bluetooth aptX. £1,600, naimaudio.com
Hi-fi stereo amp Cambridge Audio Azur 851A Nine easily selected inputs and Cambridge Audio’s own patented Class XD amplifier design combine to make this a truly unique and special amp, one that can stand up to any musical test. £1,400, cambridgeaudio.com
Turntable Marantz TT5005 Not a looker, but when it comes to practicality and sound, the TT5005’s automatic tone arm and moving magnet cartridge are unparalleled. It even includes a pre-amp for amps without phono input. £169, marantz.co.uk D E C E M B E R 2 017 T3 131
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